And the Award for Pretending To Know About Movies goes to...

It’s almost the end of a vacation week so now it means that I have go back to work on the projects and homework I’ve procrastinated it on (as usual). But how horrible is it that this week coincides with Oscar week? While I should be thinking about the Treaty of Versailles for European History, I’ve might’ve been thinking a lot of about who and what the Oscar winners are going to be come Sunday night. (But I love movies and Oscar sunday is basically my family’s Superbowl, so I guess it makes sense that I love procrastinating with thinking about the Oscars.) 

I put together a list of predictions for the categories I’m looking forward to seeing the most. So here we go- the predictions for the 84th Academy Awards.......*drumroll*: 

Best Visual Effects and/or Best Makeup, Harry Potter

I think one of these awards will go to Deathly Hallows Part 2 just so the Academy will say that they gave Harry at least one award. Otherwise, Rise of the Planet of the Apes will win Visual Effects and the Iron Lady will win Best Makeup.

Best Art Direction, Hugo

I think it can go either way: Harry or Hugo. I think Harry deserves it because Stuart Craig & Co has been almost always consistent for eight films, and they really just should give Harry Potter a technical award already. But Hollywood ADORES Hugo to death and the sets, the lighting, and subtle CGI are magnificently done. Plus, they recreate 1920‘s Paris! Everyone loves Paris!  

Best Original Score, The Artist

Since The Artist is a silent film and all, the music takes a bigger role in the film than usual (and I have a hard time resisting getting up to tap dance whenever I hear this track.) But don’t worry Howard Shore! If it’s any consolation to you, The Flying Scribble award for Best Score will go to your score.

Best Animated Feature Short, La Luna

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris is quite charming, but I think they'll give it to La Luna as a consolation prize for (gasp!) not giving Pixar a nomination in the Animated Feature category.

Best Adapted Screenplay, The Descendants 

This *might* be the only award it’ll get this Sunday.

Best Original Screenplay, Midnight in Paris

Woody Allen + Paris = Oscar gold, or so they say. 

Best Animated Feature, Rango
If I wrote this on Jan 24th when the nominations came out, there would’ve been a lot of exclamation points and bolded words in this category, but it’s been almost a month and I’ve almost gotten over the heartbreak that is Tintin not getting nominated*. But of course, even if it did, the award would’ve (rightfully) went to Rango because it’s just a quirky homage to western film (plus Johnny Depp)! 

Best Actress/Actor in a Supporting Role, Octavia Spencer & Christopher Plummer for the Help & the Beginners respectively 

They’ve been sweeping every other award so I don’t see why the Academy will decide to not let them end their award sweeping on a high...unless they truly are evil. 

Best Actress, Viola Davis for the Help

If Viola Davis won, I think it'll be ok for Meryl Streep because she’ll probably get nominated next year, and the year after next, and the year after that. 

Best Actor, Jean Dujardin for the Artist 

First: YAY Gary Oldman for getting nominated! 
Second: Jean won the Screen Actors Guild award,  and don’t the awards usually predict correctly 99% of the time who’s going to to get the acting awards?

Best Director, Michel Hazanavicius for the Artist

It takes a lot of guts and a lot of faith in his film to make a black & white film decades after Hollywood stopped making black & white films.
Runner up: Martin Scorcese for Hugo.

Best Film, The Artist 

Cuz it’s The Artist, yo. That is all. 

So that’s it-all my Oscar picks for the year twenty-eleven. Even if I don’t get my work done, at least I can say to everyone that I predicted at least some of the winners out the 14 categories correctly. 

(Oh, umm, before I end this post I guess I should mention that the only films I’ve seen out of all nominated ones were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hugo, Tintin, Rango, and the Iron Lady. Heh.)

*I think I’m mostly sad that the dvd’s not going to have the Nominated for Best Animated Feature title slapped on to its cover because you know...WETA sorta deserves it. The transitions, people. The transitions between scenes! They're amazing.**

**Why Academy, why?!! 

Mush Pot!

mush pot
noun
1. a compilation of reviews of everything Nonie has been wanting to review for the past couple of months whether it be tv, books, or films.

Books
Legend by Marie Lu

It’s a great thriller.  The plot is fast-paced and the references to Les Mis were abundant, thus making the book pretty good. The only problem was that I wish it was just a bit longer to get to know the characters more and to stretch out the storyline a bit. Everything just felt so sudden, especially the romance and the events leading up to the climax. 

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

All I can say is that, to me, it’s worth the hype. But um, maybe it was too perfect? Something feels off, but I just can’t place my finger on it. 

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

If there was an award for publishing like the Emmys called the Storybook Guild Awards* and there was a “BEST ENSEMBLE” category, Saving Francesca would get nominated and rightfully win it. The cast of characters is the best thing about this book. Each and everyone has a purpose and they’re real; they’re all people I’d see walking in the hallways at school. And Melina Marchetta has a gift for dialogue. Nothing felt out of place in this story. Now, the story itself is dark but it’s also cute. It also plays like a romantic comedy but at its heart is a story of a struggling family. It’s everything wrapped up into one and to me it was perfect. 

Fire by Kristin Cashore

It started out as a really well-written, engaging fantasy, and ended up more like a large scale fantasy soap opera (but still super well-written) because SPOILER ALERT, no one’s parents were who they seemed to be. But still, Kristin Cashore and publishers, can Bitterblue come out like tomorrow? Or at least next week? May 1st is 68 days away. Drats.  

The Monstrumologist by Rick Yancey

Oh the gore! Oh the descriptions of mangled human corpses! I just couldn’t bring myself to finish it and I don’t exactly know why. Okay, so maybe I couldn’t finish because the first six pages...scared me. I definitely recommend this if you’re a fan of Zombie stories and/or the Walking Dead and you need something else to quench your thirst for tales of the undead. I promise to myself that I will finish this book someday..as soon as I learn to remember that everything in the book is fiction. 

*Hopefully, the award will also have a better name. 

TV
Downton Abbey

DO I EVEN NEED TO WRITE ABOUT THIS SHOW. 

What I’m looking forward to in season 3 the most (in order of importance to me): 1. Branson’s first family dinner at Downton, and 2. the portrayal of the roaring twenties. 

P.S. Dear Julian Fellowes, Please give Sybil and Branson a proper storyline next season because they were two of my favorite characters in Season 1 but you turned Branson creepy in the middle of the season 2 and they were both sadly underused. Also, would it be possible for you to send me a copy of the scripts of season 3? I promise I won’t share them with anyone except maybe a friend or two.

Movies
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris
This 2012 Oscar-nominated animated short is impeccably animated and enchanting. Also, it's about the power of stories so it’s basically impossible for me to not like it. But wait...Why I am reviewing this when you can watch it for yourself?! Vimeo's being weird and not letting me embed, but you can check out the short here.

Hugo
I’ve been in the midst of love/hate relationship with this film since last November. It’s worth seeing because the art direction is truly, madly, deeply gorgeous- the sets, the costumes, the cinematography, and the subtle graphics. The actors are just nailed their roles (especially Asa Butterfield as Hugo and Sacha Baron Cohen as the Station Inspector). Throw in Howard Shore's score and everything worked like clockwork (hehe haw haw). I think what's bothering me so much is that the film felt like it was split up into two parts. Part 1 feels like Hugo, and part 2 feels like George Méliès: the Biopic. Not that it matters since Roger Ebert gave it 4/4 stars and the film’s been picking up tons of awards and nominations this year (all of them deserved though!).

Oh, and the marketing lied. The ads made it seem like a magical, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory-esque  film but I honestly don’t think any person under 12 will like it because the story takes its time to unravel. When I went to the theater, I think I was the youngest person there (and it was packed). It’s a children’s movie for adults.



The Illusionist
It's artsy, quiet, and also the most depressing and grimace-inducing animated movie I've ever seen (figures since the film's about being alone and growing up). It had a really unique animation style. I can't quite explain it, but it felt like the 2D was layered. It just simply POPs out at you.

The Boy With the Striped Pajamas
I remembered why I stay away from movies and books about WWII when the end credits started rolling. Textbooks and WWII research projects are gut-wrenching enough for me. AND SORT OF SPOILER ALERT, the last couple of scenes of this film were just numbing. Oh, and it didn't help at all that it was about two children (one of whom is played by Asa Butterfield, by the way).


Attack the Block
If I had to pick a favorite film out of everything I saw last year, I’d probably pick this one. Attack the Block is one of the best alien invasion movies EVER. It’s simply clever, funny, brisk, and unsentimental yet surprisingly poignant. The aliens were creepy, the techno background score rocked, and the final scene put a smile on my face. Yep, it’s pretty much flawless and I seriously cannot overhype this movie enough. Disclaimer: The movie’s about a street gang and they do stuff that street gangs are known to do, so the movie really deserves the R Rating.

Coming soon to this blog near you: 2012 Oscar Predictions! And perhaps a Downton Abbey season finale recap. Woo-hoo?

Tintin and His Ginger Quiff

(cue dramatic John Williams music)


In a world before Hiccup and Toothless...


Harry and Hedwig....


and Sam Gamgee and Bill the Pony, there was...


Tintin, the Belgian reporter and his brilliant fox terrier Snowy out to save the world from evil bad guys in a series of comics written by the amazing artist, Hergé aka George Remi. There’s no shortage of globe-trotting, slapstick comedy, dangerous villains, and crazy (but funnily plausible enough) adventures with a colorful cast of characters in these books. 

The Adventures of Tintin are greatest comic books series ever written. Seriously. (Although I should tell you, I might have a slight disadvantage picking the best of the best of comic books seeing as Tintin are the only comic books I read. Heh) In these intelligent, layered, well-researched, beautifully drawn, satirical books, Tintin and Snowy travel the world and deal with everything from Al Capone to South American revolutions to Eastern European politics to sunken treasure to horrible Opera singers to the excess of the Soviet Union. And oh yeah, they go to the moon. THE MOON. Twenty years before the real first lunar landing. These books have EVERYTHING except romance and provide a wonderful snapshot of the 20th century. 

There's a reason why some people want the series to be called the Adventures of Tintin and Snowy. 

And the film just last Sunday won the Golden Globe for Best Animated Feature. Er, I *may* have teared up a bit when they announced it. (Umm, ahem, yes, I know I shouldn't take these film award shows waayyy too seriously...but I mean, it's TINTIN!)

But however wonderful that award is, the award is a Golden Globe and that’s the issue: The Golden Globes are given by foreign journalists, the keyword there being foreign. The movie has been overlooked (*cough* BOMBED *cough*) critically and box office-wise on this side of the world, obviously because Tintin is indubitably and unapologetically European. (I bet you my bowl of Cheerios that the Oscar's going to Rango.) Belgian or not, no childhood hero of mine should have to suffer through this embarrassment, so here here are six reasons why you should go running to see it now!

(1) It’s visually stunning. Pulling a Chris Traeger (from Parks & Recreation), I’ll say that’s it LITERALLY the most gorgeous animated feature I’ve seen. It is brilliant- no PHENOMENAL animation and use of motion capture. It’s jaw-dropping and I almost fell out my chair while watching it with my 3D glasses on. I remember when the first sneak peek pictures came out my brother and I went around the house in a rampage that Spielberg and Jackson were going to ruin our favorite childhood hero’s story. We went into the theater sweating, begging Spielberg that everything will go alright (because we have a telepathic link with Spielberg obviously), and two hours later we were able to wipe the sweat off our brows while walking out because it did. Thank you animators at WETA digital. 

This was LITERALLY my pose for the entire two hours sans Snowy.

 (via markeeto)

(2) The story’s just infectious with its energy. It’s an adventure story: a classic, quaint, smart early 20th century adventure story. This is Indiana Jones decades before Indiana Jones came to life. It starts quietly enough: Tintin’s enjoying an afternoon walking around a flea market and he happens to find a model ship of The Unicorn. From there the story jumps forward and never stops as Tintin heads out to find the secret of The Unicorn before the villains do. It’s exhilarating and I haven't had this much fun watching a film in a loonng time.

(3) Cinematography and transitions. It’s an animated film so it’s probably a bit easier getting the cameras around everything but hey, credit is due where credit is due. The filmmakers have to think creatively about where to place the cameras, right? And they do. The camera sweeps all throughout the film, following Tintin's escapades through windows, on the streets of Brussels, in the Moroccan town of Bagghar, and etc, so so so beautifully. And the transitions. Holy. Cheesecakes. WHEN TINTIN AND CAPTAIN HADDOCK SHAKE HANDS, THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN AND THE HANDS TURN INTO SAND DUNES. WHO THINKS OF TRANSITIONS LIKE THAT?!?! And The Unicorn BURSTING through the sand. And the chase sequence. AHHH. The way Tintin turns the motorcycle handles around to use them and a wire as a zipline. AHHH again. I might get a heart attack just getting too excited about it. 

I LITERALLY cannot wait for all the behind the scenes special features the blu-ray's going to bring. (via)

(4) Tintin’s introduction scene rocks. That is all. And his gravity-defying quiff got a special scene (psst..the scene involves mirrors).

The biggest issue with the film that American critics seem to be having with the film (besides the mo-cap) is Tintin himself. Everyone seems to want a backstory for him. After reading each book countless times, I can say that he just doesn’t have one. He’s meant to be enigmatic. I don't think I've realized this until I came back from the film, but the biggest mystery in the entire series of mysteries is Tintin. From what we the readers know, he has no parents or family to speak of besides Snowy. He doesn’t have much of a life outside of being a reporter, no determinate age (I always thought he was in his late teens/early twenties), and we don’t know what the deal with his name is (is Tintin a pseudonym for his journalistic activities or what?!), but that’s okay. Hergé gives us everything we need to know about him: 

Tintin's a ginger, quiffed reporter whose signature outfit consists of a beige trench-coat, a blue sweater, and brown plus fours. He’s whipsmart, adventurous, eager, innocent-ish but calculating, dynamic, and ridiculously good-looking for an animated character. He also knows the meaning of truly packing a punch. 


And Jamie Bell captured him very well. The mannerisms, the expressions and the tone he gives to Tintin are perfect. The rest of the actors (Andy Serkis, Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, etc) nailed their roles as Captain Haddock and Thompson & Thomson respectively. And Daniel Craig was surprisingly sinister as the bad guy. 

Real Tintin is wondering how and why motion-capture Tintin looks better than he does...

... while motion-capture Tintin has just noticed that his quiff is fashionably triangular instead of rectangular like in the books. 
(via brokensunday)

(5) It will make you smile. It made me smile and I’m pretty sure there’s at least one smile-inducing scene for everyone (and OF COURSE it will because the screenplay was written by the hilarious and witty British writing trio Steven Moffat, Edgar Wright, and Joe Cornish). One of my favorite scenes is when Tintin’s trying to figure out why everyone’s after his model ship of The Unicorn, and a grin comes on his face and he says, “...And I know where I’ll find the answer...the library!” I'm sorry everyone. I tried to but I couldn't stop myself from awwwing. It was too adorable. How many characters do you see these days exclaiming enthusiastically that they need to go the library to get information besides Hermione?


(6) It’s a lovely tribute to Hergé. Hergé's the artist who's inspired everyone from Walt Disney to Brad Bird. If you pick up a book after seeing the movie (hopefully!), you’ll see that there are little details the filmmakers sprinkled throughout to show their love and appreciation for Hergé's world: Tintin’s apartment had red armchairs and a desk next to the window; Tintin gets knocked out numerous times (I assure you that I’m not a sadist! Hergé has Tintin getting clubbed or hit with a brick or rake or wine bottle or something almost all the time. It just won't be Tintin without those scenes); there are guns and aeroplanes; Snowy saves the day plenty of times; Captain Haddock can swear colorfully and the bad guys are refreshingly old-fashioned. Though some might disagree with me, even though it’s not animated in the traditional sense, the art and design of everything is still very Hergé. There is nothing out of place here, except for a few lapses of reality but I’m not even going to go there.

So yeah, in conclusion, GO SEE The Adventures of Tintin! And thank you Spielberg,  Peter Jackson, WETA, the writers, Jamie Bell and the rest of the cast for not being afraid to bring out their inner Tintin nerd while making this film. As the cartoon series Tintin would strangely say, “YAHOOO!” 

"I LITERALLY cannot wait until Steve lets me stop doing all this publicity stuff."
 -Jamie Bell 

the one starting again

Bonjour, mes amis!

It's been a while, eh? I think I'm just going to skip the omg-i'm-so-sorry-i-haven't-blogged-i've-been-too-busy-with-school-and-life-and-EVERYTHING-and-did-i-mention-i'm-a-senior-now? because everyone's already heard variations of that, so I'll cut to the chase:

Today's a Monday, and here's something thought-provoking for a Monday- a JJ Abrams talk on storytelling and his inspiration. The truth is, I haven't seen anything from JJ Abrams unless you count the Star Trek and Super 8 trailers and 1.5 episodes of Lost, but judging from those, everything else I've read about him or seen in an interview of his, and this talk, he's nothing short of a genius (and zealous) filmmaker and storyteller. 

His talk is one of my favorite TED talks along with Sheryl Sandberg's:

Not really bookish or anything, but I admire her. :)

I'm hoping to post at least once a week because I've really missed writing here. I just never had anything interesting to write about at all, unless you count getting to eat a Pizza-in-a-Cone in Providence, Rhode Island. (It was seriously a pizza in a cone.) I consider it one of the highlights of my Providence trip:

(More on the Pizza-in-a-Cone to come later!)

I also got a tumblr in the time I vanished. I took the title Objarkas from Plain Kate by Erin Bow which is so lyrical yet very eerie at the same. Honestly, I don't know if I'm going to be keeping the tumblr because it's a total time-sucker but it is the site which I'm updating the most right now (and there are so many beautiful things there), so if you want to see what I'm up to, I suggest heading onto over there. :)

Ciao for now,
Nonie

p.s. Goliath is coming out on September the 20th, which also happens to be tomorrow! I won't be able to read it for a couple of weeks, but still- it's finally releasing! *flails*

today's the 28th of July...

... and two very exciting things popped up while I've been roaming around New England and stumbling over Rhode Island's beaches* these past few days (in the 100 degrees heat which is always great...NOT).

1) The Queen's Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner received the 2011 Mythopoeic Award! (Actually this was a couple of weeks ago, but I only found out about it like...yesterday.) :D I can't imagine a more deserving series. If you haven't read any of the books yet, go straight to the library to hold the Thief (the first book). Don't make me track you down to throw the books into your windows or hide them under your pillows! You wouldn't want that, and tracking you down would make me feel weird, so uh...please read these books?

2) Exclusive pictures of Josh Hutcherson as Peeta and Liam Hemsworth as Gale released thanks to Entertainment Weekly! I refuse to post the EW cover here because the photoshop is a tad ridiculous, so instead here are my favorite stills** from the movie they've shown so far.

Best friends.

Josh/Peeta. With an apron. And bread.

Before anyone freaks out about Josh's seemingly still brown hair, remember that it's just a lighting trick! Take a look at the slideshow. His hair is definitely dirty blonde and it falls in waves over his forehead; don't worry. :)

*takes sigh of relief*

I think the Hunger Games makeup crew got it right, don't you think? :D

* Rhode Island's beaches are made up of shells and rocks, so we couldn't have this dramatic run up to the water with our hair flying behind us, and with smiles and laughter etched onto our faces. Instead we had to slowly walk over rocks so we didn't fall and break our teeth, while occasionally letting out a tiny squeak or two. Still, the view was breathtaking.

** Is it just me being sappy, or is the still with Jennifer and Liam is too adorable? Awwww.

*** EDIT: More Hunger Games promo pictures are right here (thanks to Bookshelves of Doom)

*Waves*

Hiya! Believe or not, I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth after seeing Harry Potter. Hurrah! There’s just been a lot of work to get done over the weekend, and sadly, I can’t find the USB cord for my camera and I really really wanted to post a couple of pictures from the midnight premieres because everything was fantastic there.


But it’s been 4 days since the release of the movie, and it seems that the USB cord itself dropped off the face of the earth, so I don’t think I can put off writing about the movie any longer for a couple of pictures.

Tee hee, I can hear some of groaning, “No Nonie! Not another Potter post! The official teaser poster for the Hunger Games came out! That's the new movie news. Get with the times already!" but hey, I never got closure on last week. :D So here’s Day #1 (or Day -3) with just a couple of my thoughts on the film:

I walked out of the theater wanting to jump in the air and cheer with happiness. That never happened before with a movie before. Of course, it’s not fair to judge it like that since this series holds a sentimental value with many people but still; we have to acknowledge that the filmmakers did a good job here. Coming from the bottom of my heart, I think this is the best film in the series. :D

I'm pretty sure most of you who wanted to watch the movie have already seen it, but I can't be too sure, so beware of spoilers!

• The first part was all about the dynamic of the trio, and this second part is all about Hogwarts, and Harry himself of course. It was just a bit surprising seeing Emma and Rupert not having much to do.
• Call me silly, but in the first few shots of the Gringrotts heist scene, I actually thought it was Emma under all the Bellatrix make-up. Helena BC was that phenomenal. She nailed Emma's facial expressions.
• I loved Professor McGonagall’s geeky, happy giggle after setting the statues to life. And she had the first tear-inducing line in the movie: “It’s nice to see you Potter.” The audience burst into a big “AWWWWW” when she said that.
• Fred's death scene from the book is not here. The scene they replaced it with, where he's cornered, alone and wandless, by a Death Eater, is chilling. It's horrible to watch, but so cinematic.
• I can’t even talk about the Snape vs. McGonagall duel without getting speechless.
• Actually, there are so many scenes in this movie I couldn’t talk about without getting inarticulate, just because of the sheer awesomeness of it all. Like in my notes about this movie I wrote a couple days ago, I had "EEEEEEEEEEEEE" written out next to McGonagall’s name just because I just couldn’t explain it any other way.
• Next to Alan Rickman’s name I have this random scribble. It’s not even an “EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” Just a large, random scribble on the page.
• And that, friends, should explain how incredible he was in this movie. Even an “EEEEEEEEEEEE!” can't describe him. He stole every scene he was in, and played broken-hearted-but-nevertheless-heroic Snape with perfection.
• I would like to hand over an award to the person who decided to to put in the line “You have your mother’s eyes” line in Snape’s death scene. That was GENIUS. Everyone says that to Harry, but it means so much more when said by Severus Snape. Everything else in his memories was heartbreaking, especially the scene where he's holding a dead Lily, crying, with baby Harry in the crib sobbing. Just heartbreaking.
• His death was also the most horrid. It's not shown directly, but seeing the silhouette of Snape and hearing it was dreadful. I hate Nagini.
• But hooray for Neville for cutting its head off! The whole scene is just epic. I think I cheered the loudest here. I’m very, very, very thankful that they didn’t mess up the Prince’s Tale or Neville’s role in the story. The character developments of Snape and Neville were my favorite parts of the book, so they were the two parts I was most anxious about, but they delivered. Thank you, thank you, thank you Steve Kloves and David Yates!
• Neville’s line about being mad about Luna was the cutest, and most spontaneous thing about the movie.
• I loved Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy)’s scene when he hesitates to go over to the Death Eaters, and loved Narcissa Malfoy too. The scene on the bridge where Draco and Narcissa kept on walking but Lucius turned around, looking around a bit lost and sad was a wonderful way to end the Malfoy family storyline.
• The third tear-inducing line after McGonagall’s and Snape’s was Dumbledore’s: “Harry, you wonderful boy. You brave, brave man.” Michael Gambon delivered that line faultlessly. Some people started crying so loudly that it got distracting. Heh.
• I loved how they showed a disgruntled Filch getting ready to clean up the castle during the final scenes. Once a Hogwarts caretaker, always a Hogwarts caretaker. ;)

Staring contest time.

The Technical Parts

• I’m sort of curious as to why they decided to not have the huge crowd of people during the final battle between Harry and Voldemort. To make the victory more subtle? I did like the Harry-Hagrid hug though.
• I'm also curious as to why they decided to make Bellatrix and Voldemort turn into confetti-like pieces when they died. (But evil people never die normally in fantasy movies so...hmm...)
• The screenwriting was great. They changed the book for sure, but it all fit somehow.
• But Tonks and Lupin deserved more (or they should've gotten in a line before the battle about Teddy!). Lupin's line about Teddy would appear to come out of nowhere for the audience members who didn't read the book.
• The music by Alexandre Desplat is beautifully haunting; it’s the ideal soundtrack for this movie. Just listen to "Severus and Lily," "Statues," "Courtyard Apocalypse" and "Lily's Theme."
• Um, though I love Desplat's score, I definitely burst into tears when I heard the original John Williams theme during the epilogue. Hearing John Williams sort of sealed the ending; It all started with John Williams and ended with John Williams. It was the perfect way to bring it to a full circle.
• I'm one of the HP epilogue-lovers *ducks from flying shoes* so I enjoyed how the epilogue played out here. I think they did good job aging the actors, and Albus Severus was adorable. (A couple of people did snort when Harry said his name, though.) :) I just wished it was longer though. Another two minutes wouldn't have hurt...
• Who else liked the Chocolate Frog jumping out the window like it did in the first movie? :) The little references to the other movies made me happy.

There's so much more I could talk about, but ah, I think I shall end here. :D

I think they ended the series in the best possible way. It still amazes me that they kept the series going for 10 years with almost the same cast and crew they started with. It was breathtaking really. This is a bit late, but thank you to all the directors, the crew who brought the world alive, and of course the actors, Daniel, Emma, Rupert, and all the supporting actors for bringing the characters, the ones we love or love to hate, alive. And of course, thank you JK Rowling for putting everything in motion. :D

Geekiness Alert: After discussing with friends and brother, we all realized that instead of comparing Voldemort with Darth Vader/Anakin, it should be Snape vs. Darth Vader.

Voldemort = Emperor Palpatine! Full character discussions likely to come soon. :D

Geekiness Alert over.

"Please excuse my mawkishness Harry but..."

Day #2

...In about 3 hours Deathly Hallows Part 2 is going to start rolling in the theater, and well, then it's going to end. It's been an emotionally draining week to be honest. I've finished rereading the books, and I just finished our HP movie rewatch. I hate being mawkish but MY CHILDHOOD IS ENDING IN 4 HOURS NOOOOOO!! it's going to be....strange, for the lack of a better word, to not be able to call up my friends about the new HP trailer or to not watch a new Rupert Grint interview on Mugglenet.

It is the last couple of hours before the movie so here are a couple of my favorite moments from the series: quotes, fanart and gif-wise. :)

"A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs. Dursley's scream as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley...He couldn't know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices:

"To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend. There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve ft mountain troll is one of them."

- Sorcerer's Stone

What Hermione says (Order of the Phoenix film):

“Wit beyond measure is a man’s greatest treasure.”

-Luna (Order of the Phoenix)

"It is our choices, Harry, that show us who we truly are, far more than our abilities.”

- Dumbledore (Chamber of Secrets)

"When in doubt, go to the library."

- Ron (Chamber of Secrets)

"So top grade's O for Outstanding," Hermione was saying, "and then there's A-"

"No, E," George corrected her, "E for 'Exceeds Expectations.' And I've always thought Fred and I should've got E in everything, because we exceeded expectations just by turning up for the exams."

- Order of the Phoenix

"Percy wouldn't notice a joke if it danced naked in front of him wearing one of Dobby's hats."

- Ron (Order of the Phoenix)

(Neville by Forbis)

“We’ll all keep fighting, you know that right, Harry?”

-Neville (Deathly Hallows)

(Lily's Letter by Shyduck)

When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, “After all this time?” And I will say, “Always.”

- Alan Rickman

(Snape and Dumbledore by Kyla79)

‎"No story lives unless someone wants to listen. The stories we love best do live in us forever. So, whether you come back page by page or by the big screen, Hogwarts will always be there to welcome you home.”

-JK Rowling

I believe that this is what I'm going to be like when I watch the movie. NOOOOOOO I AM NOT PREPARED FOR THIS!!

The Artistic Talent of Harry Potter Fans aka Fanart

Day #3

SPOILERS FOR DH!

(Ron Weasley's Bloody Brilliant Day by yaytime)

(harry potter by Ekara)

(Neville Watercolor Sketch by feliciacano)

(Being Harry Potter's Friend by Kumul8--click for larger version! :D)

(teddy tries to remember by burdge-bug)

(Burrow Deluxe or Ron is rich by Vivalavida)

(Enough Responsibility by burdge-bug)

(Snape's Sense of Humor by girl2004)

And I could not stop laughing when I saw this. :D

Hogwarts Hogwarts Hoggy Warty Hogwarts, teach us something please...

Day #4

One of my favorite aspects of Harry Potter is Hogwarts. Any school student can connect to the

setting because there's always teachers: eccentric teachers, caring teachers, the everyone's-

favorite-teacher teachers, strict teachers who always assign you loads of homework even though there's something important coming up, and teachers who'll hate you no matter what you seem to do (very very rarely though).

(Hogwarts Staff image via link)

And our school has a team system. It's very similar to the four houses in Hogwarts except we don't get sorted in on our first day and we get randomly placed so it doesn't matter at all. What makes it fun is that some of our teachers care and instead of calling them teams, they call them houses. :D

Oh, and then there's the endless social drama that we have to try earnestly block out because it's nearly impossible to get back out when we're pulled into it. Not good.

Definitely more exciting than the drama are the classes. Learning our subjects is a bit different than learning Hogwart's subjects, because umm Harry's subjects are...magical. Writing an essay about the toxins in soap for Chemistry is not like writing up an essay on the purposes and benefits of a bezoar for Snape's Potion class, but the classes can get similar (or *cough* you can pretend they're similar if you're a desperate Harry Potter fan).

Last year my friend and I while thoroughly discussing how similar our school was to Hogwarts in Chemistry class compared our teachers to Hogwarts' teachers, and our classes to Harry's classes (because you know, it's important to learn the skills of comparing and contrasting!)

When we compared classes we saw that:

Chemistry = Potions.

US History = History of Magic

English = Charms (the comparison is a stretch but both classes are fun and we learn vocabulary and latin prefixes from both of them!)

Biology = Herbology

Personal Fitness = Quidditch class from the first book

Math = Arithmancy

Astronomy = Astronomy :D

Defense Against the Dark Arts was left out of the list unfortunately, because it's a bit too magical, unless you count Personal Fitness as DADA because you're definitely learning how to defend yourself sometimes (learning how to run quicker is part of defending yourself)...

And there's also Transfiguration but there's no hope at all with finding a class we can equate it with.

So yes, if you ignore DADA and Transfiguration, you'll see that there's not many differences between we learn and what Harry and his classmates learn or between our schools and Hogwarts (except the fact that Hogwarts is a boarding school and it's not real ). YEAH.

Who's your favorite Hogwarts teacher and what's the one class you would like to

if you got the chance to go there? My favorite teacher is McGonagall. I think she and I would've

gotten along splendidly...maybe. My favorite class probably would've been Charms though, or

maybe DADA? :D

"Now let's have a beach party...in London!"

Day #5: Harry Potter Youtube Frenzy

14 minutes and 37 seconds of Harry Potter spoofery for your viewing pleasure. Ah-ha! :D

An egoistical Harry is priceless. :P

This montage saved this year's Oscars. Hurrah!

(P&P trailer here because it's so much more funnier if you've

seen the original :D)

(Stranger than Fiction trailer here)

This is probably one of the weirdest parodies I've seen, but I'm saying that's a good thing. :D (It's produced by University of Michigan students (yay!) and the lyrics for Act 1 Scene 1 is right here)

GAH. There were so many more videos I couldn't find. I should think about bookmarking them next time if I ever find them again, don't you think? Heh.

And the final countdown begins

*cue the final countdown music*

Day #6

How it all began:

It was a TV Spot that changed everything. I think it was the TV spot below in fact, because I vaguely remember laughing at Ron's response to Professor McGonagall transforming into a cat, and this was the only spot I found with that scene in it.

My brother and I turned on the TV on a November night after working on what seemed like countless hours of homework. My dad just happened to walk in as soon as the spot started running, and watching it together, all three of us got amused with the various complications the characters were getting into in it (someone blew up a feather!). My dad especially liked the graphics in the McGonagall transforming part, so as soon as the spot ended, he immediately asked us if we wanted to see it. We answered with a yes, as eagerly as a 7 year old and a little 5 year old could.

So off to the movie theater we went a couple days later and I walked out of the matinee show blown away. Three best friends! Harry! Ron! Hermione! Magic! A mysterious school! Weird teachers! Hagrid! Dragons! Evil villain! It was my first foray into a fantasy world and I was delighted in every bit of it.

Then I got the real book for Christmas, which changed everything once again. JK Rowling became my author hero and the world of Hogwarts and the magic became real. (....And Dan, Emma, and Rupert became my favorite actors in the whole entire universe for portraying my literary heroes onscreen.)

It's strange to think it's been a decade from that point, but it has been a wonderful decade. :)

If you're a Harry Potter fan, how did you first get started on the series? Or...if you're not much of HP fan, where did you first hear about it? :D

I can hear the crickets chirping over here

Next week I'm planning to do something Harry Potter-y everyday because the end is coming on Friday (it's here already?!), and I've been a poor poor fan indeed. So everyday starting from tomorrow and ending on Friday, I'll be posting Harry Potter related videos, art or.....umm, oh, er...yeah...I haven't exactly planned out anything yet, but expect SOMETHING!

Meanwhile, here's John Green's video on conquering his biggest fear, heights. *shudders*

As someone who's downright terrified of high places, I found John Green's act very inspiring and heroic.

Tuesday Tribulations and Miscellany

the tribulations:

1) The release of Bridge of Clay by the awesome, clever, brilliant, awesome Markus Zusak has been delayed (yet again). I've read that it's supposed to come out this September (September 1st to be exact!), but it doesn't even have an amazon page yet. A little puzzled when I saw, I searched and searched the web until I came upon this answer about the book by Doubleday (Markus Zusak's publishing company).

If you don't feel like pressing the link, I'll spare you the news quickly: We now have to wait until 2013 for the book. Nooooooooooooo.

2) I landed on a spoilery review for Goliath. NOOOOOOOOOO The review though was only mildly spoilery, and my eyes only caught one thing before my mouse clicking reflexes started working again and I clicked out of the page. Of course, that one thing ended up being something something I was looking forward to seeing. EPIC FAIL.

I learned my lesson. I'm never ever ever going to look up reviews for it anymore.

Please excuse me while I weep and gnash my teeth on the other side of the room.

the miscellany:

1) Bill Gates read (and really liked) the Hunger Games. No really, it's true. That's pretty cool, yes? :)

2) I want to watch Super 8 sometime before it leaves the theater because it seems like the type of movie that should be seen in theaters.

A little tidbit about this movie which got me waayyy too over eager to see it: it's called Super 8 because the kids are shooting a film with a super 8 camera. (I like cleverly named movies.)

I should also mention that it came out on my birthday. That little birthday fact could be playing a big role in my increasing want to see the film more than other reasons. Heh...because really, when's the next time that a Steven Spielberg movie (a critically successful one at that too) is ever going to come out on my birthday?! ;)

3) It's happening again. Articles similar to the the Harry Potter farewell/in memoriam/good-bye articles that came out during the release of Deathly Hallows are now slowly coming out day by day.

The site I really want to point to for this is Tor, for their insightful and profound homages to JK Rowling and HP several of its bloggers are writing (as part of their Harry Potter celebration, Potterpalooza).

They're all worth a read, but some of my favorite essays are:

Bouncy Prose and Distant Threats: An Appreciation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's (or Sorcerer's) Stone

Mischief Managed: An Appreciation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Rewatching the Potter Films: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Genre in the Mainstream: The Literary Merits of Potter

The Boy Who Lived...With His Gran

Growing Up Potter

And though this essay's not part of the HP celebration, it's HP related and I've been wanting to link it since forever so, here you go:

Ron Weasley, Romantic Hero?

I would also suggest taking the time to read the comments too. Most of them are just as thought-provoking and touching as the essays themselves. :)

Hope everyone is having a good (and hopefully tribulation-less) Tuesday!

And the Oscar for Best Animated Feature of 2012 goes to...

Thanks to Shanella and Pixar (on twitter) for letting me know that the first official teaser poster for Pixar's 2012 release Brave came out! It's beautiful and intense. The title design, the lighting/sun/sky behind the title design- I'm rendered speechless.

From just the teaser poster and the concept art, it looks like the film will be sort of like Pixar + How to Train Your Dragon + Braveheart + Tim Burton all put in a blender to create a perfect mix of animation + story. :D

And let's see...since this is a Pixar movie:

• It's going to be a treat visually (If the poster can give me chills because of how stunning it looks I'm sure the movie's going to be 100 times more stunning!)
• characters are going to pretty awesome
• the story will probably make us tear up at least a little bit at the end (or as in the case of UP, maybe in the first 5 min)

This is definitely going to be a must see next summer! It really does look fantastic. So fantastic that I'm going to predict that this movie's going to be #5 on my best Pixar movies list! (#5 because Monster's Inc, Toy Story, Ratatouille, and the Incredibles are non-negotiable in my world).

The one thing I'm not looking forward to is the debating that starts whenever a Disney movie comes out. The debates are usually about two things: Princesses and Pixar vs. Disney. (When it comes to Disney princesses and fictional princesses in general, I agree with Meg Cabot. When it comes to the Pixar vs. Disney feud, I think that Pixar rocks and I can never NOT like classic Disney animation soo it's a draw between them for me.)

Hm, I can imagine the headlines already:

"FINALLY Because of Pixar, We Have A Princess We Can All Root For"

"Pixar's Brave Princess Braver than Disney's"

"Brave's Princess is how an animated role model should be"

"Pixar's Scottish Princess Takes the Cake For Best Animated Princess"

"Pixar Princess Beats Disney's Tangled Princesses"

...and etc.

(No, of course I'm not still sore about the Academy Award's Tangled snub...and Tangled's loss to Toy Story 3 for Best Song. Ha ha, what's makes you think that?!).

If anyone's going to see Cars 2 this weekend, have fun seeing the teaser trailer for Brave!

Gallivanting through Florida, Part 2 {Misadventures in Universal}

Sooo...I'm not exactly what you would call a thrill seeker (I'm not one for surprises) and I have a huge fear of heights. (Would my boggart be a high diving board or something? Maybe.)Because of the two aforementioned qualities of my personality, I don't particularly enjoy roller coasters much to the dismay of my friends. But because I didn't want to be a party pooper and ruin everyone's mood, I put on my brave face and calmly stood in line for the rides with everyone else.

If Sam can bravely carry Frodo up Mt. Doom, then gosh darn it, I can bravely get on a one minute roller coaster ride

Something went really strange that day because it seemed like we got stuck on almost every ride we went on! Getting stuck on a ride was not, to put it simply, fun, especially for someone like me who doesn't particularly enjoy dangling around 100 ft (or higher) in the air like others for long stretches of time, but looking back on it, our escapades in Universal wouldn't have been half as memorable if the rides didn't stop every now and then.

The best rides we got stuck on:

1) Dudley Do-Right's Ripsaw Falls: The electricity shut off right before we were about to fall off on the drop. And then it started right before we could say anything and we plunged down quicker than on any water ride I've ever been on before (I don't think we were supposed to fall). I screamed like I never screamed before.

2) The Hulk: Technically I didn't get stuck on it, but my group members did! I didn't go because my brave-Sam-on-Mt-Doom-face fell off as soon as someone suggested going on this:

...and I couldn't muster enough courage to put it back on, so my advisors and I ended up sitting in a cafe nearby and enjoyed some nice lemonade while waiting for everyone else...FOR OVER ONE HOUR. It was on a Wednesday morning, so there was no one there at the park so we realized that something was fishy when my friends didn't come back in ten minutes. When we went back to the ride to see what was up, the ride attendants were telling nearby questioners that some of the riders were stuck and there was no way to get them down. HAHAHA. So we had to wait for another half an hour until the ride started properly moving again.

3) Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey: We were speeding through the castle, and then suddenly, everything- the video they were playing, our carts, lights-shut off. We were in the complete dark and I could hear some startled screams and voices. A couple minutes later we heard an announcement from the ride attendants apologizing for the inconveniences. Then our carts started bobbing up and down. Up and down. In the dark. For a long time. More startled screams ensued. The ride started up again soon, and we did end up seeing the familiar faces of Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson on the screen again much to everyone's relief.

Butterbeer!! I liked it very much.

I could not get some Fish & Chips at the Three Broomsticks. :(

Spiderman waved at me right before I snapped this picture. I also got a very awesome picture with the Green Goblin (not pictured). His smile was the epitome of EVIL (as usual).

Universal Globe!! No matter where we went that day, I had to make sure we got at least one picture in front of the globe because you know...it's The Globe or as I knew it when I was a little girl, the globe that always spins around before every Jurassic Park movie. It's every bit as sentimental to me as Disney's Castle.

Universal was our last theme park during our visit. The next day, we woke up early, and sadly said good-bye to the 95 degree weather and the greenery we rarely have up north during the month of May. *tear*

I did some catching up with the world done on the bus ride back to airport:

Moral of the post: Fear of anything can become overcome if you put on a brave face doing it, unless you're scared of roller coasters that can make you feel like your face is melting off. Fake it till you make it, some people say. That and...deep breathing really helps.